Firm Rankings

India

Antitrust and competition

The 'quality' competition team at¬†Kochhar & Co.¬†'stands out for its¬†practical and business-oriented approach' and¬†attracts praise for its 'response times and accessibility'.¬† The team has the capabilities to handle transactions and advisory competition matters as well as contentious issues. Reeta Mishra¬†boasts particular experience in antitrust and competition litigation.

Aviation (including aerospace and defence)

Banking and finance

Kochhar & Co.¬†advises on¬†the full spectrum of lending and structured finance matters, and assists a client base of¬†foreign investors,¬†domestic and international banks,¬†non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) and¬†hedge funds with issues across a range of sectors.¬†Rupali Sharma, based in Mumbai,¬†and senior associate¬†Anuj Kaila¬†in Bangalore are the names to note.

Corporate and M&A

Kochhar & Co.'s¬†practice is noted for its pan-Indian support, covering a full range of corporate and M&A matters including due diligence, transaction structuring, regulatory issues and risk management. Highlights include acting for Corning Inc on its $900m acquisition of the Communication Division of 3M Company. Chairman Rohit Kochhar¬†and Anjuli Sivaramakrishnan¬†are the key individuals.

Dispute resolution

Kochhar & Co.'s 'practical and solution-oriented' team¬†has 'detailed knowledge'¬†of commercial, infrastructure, banking, and oil and gas-related disputes. Krishna Vijay Singh¬†is acting for the National Bank of Fujairah in four civil suits relating to recovery of outstanding debts from guarantors, who had provided personal guarantees in case of default of repayment.¬†Nishant Menon¬†and¬†Manish Dembla¬†are other key names to note.

Intellectual property

The IP group at¬†Kochhar & Co.¬†advises both private companies and public sector corporations on a range of contentious and non-contentious matters. It is instructed by¬†Nissan Motor Corporation to manage its¬†trade mark portfolio in India, as well as advise on infringement and enforcement of all IP rights. The group also represents the Khadi and Village Industries Commission in proceedings relating to infringement of the global¬†KHADI trade mark. Other clients include¬†BlackBerry, Emirates Airlines and Samsung India. Gurgaon-based Tarvinder Singh¬†heads up the practice which also includes Rupali Sharma¬†in Mumbai and Savitha Kesav Jagadeesan, who leads the South India practice from the Chennai office.

Labour and employment

Kochhar & Co.'s employment and industrial relations team is jointly led by Rohit Kochhar, Suhas Srinivasiah¬†and Vijay Ravi¬†and frequently assists its corporate clients with a range of labour law matters.¬†The group assisted Textron India in handling serious allegations of corruption against one of its senior employees, relating to a $5m transaction. In another work highlight, a team led by¬†Srinivasiah acted for¬†Permasteelisa (India) on a large scale amicable termination of employees. Indrani Lahiri¬†is also recommended.

Projects and energy

Kochhar & Co.¬†has substantial expertise in¬†advising public sector clients on a broad spectrum of¬†national highway,¬†LNG, urban infrastructure, and railways projects, and is noted for its strength in handling contentious energy and infrastructure matters. The team is assisting China Development Bank with project finance agreements for multiple infrastructure projects in India with an aggregate value of $10bn. Senior partner¬†Krishna Vijay Singh¬†is recommended.

Real estate and construction

The team at Kochhar & Co.¬†has significant real estate sector experience and boasts a client roster of well-known corporates. Practice head¬†Alok Tewari¬†(based in New Delhi) is leading a team acting for¬†Maruti Suzuki India on the acquisitions of multiple parcels of land for development of¬†distributorship and after sale service centres pan-India. The group also assisted Microsoft with the consolidation of all its leases as well as negotiating contracts for its project for the construction of a Hyderabad campus. Mumbai-based Rupali Sharma¬†and Preetam D‚ÄôSouza¬†in the Bangalore office are also recommended.

Shipping

The maritime practice at Kochhar & Co.¬†handles a range of shipping matters, with clients including Milaha Maritime and Logistics Integrated LLC,¬†Gulf Shipping Investment and Seaco Global. UPDATE: Maritime practice head¬†Gautam Bhatikar¬†and a team that includes one principal associate and four associates will be leaving the firm on 8 July 2019.

TMT

Kochhar & Co.¬†attracts praise for its 'depth of experience and level of interest in technology matters'. The team is instructed by¬†Fedex to advise on its courier tracking device, which includes obtaining approvals from the Department of¬†Telecommunications. The practice is also acting for Akamai on a range of matters, including advising on data protection, net neutrality and regulatory matters. With 'deep industry understanding', practice head¬†Stephen Mathias¬†has been highlighted as 'very effective counsel for international clients looking for clear, concise advice'.

Tax

The taxation practice group at Kochhar & Co.¬†frequently assists the firm's¬†foreign and domestic clients with indirect and direct tax advice. Shahid Khan¬†heads up the practice alongside Vijay Ravi.¬†Brijesh Verma left the firm to establish his own practice.

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New Delhi, 31st August 2019: West Haryana Highways Projects Private Limited (a Special Purpose Vehicle of Era Infra Engineering) was awarded a Concession Agreement by NHAI on DBFOT Toll basis for widening of existing two lane highway and also constructions of two new bypasses. Although WHHPPL substantially completed the work and Toll was stared in 2014, NHAI was not declaring the completion. Also WHHPPL suffered huge losses due to Project overrun including threat from Banks/Financial Institution w.r.t Insolvency Proceedings (needless to reiterate one such proceedings under I&B Code filed by Bank of Baroda (erstwhile Dena bank) was recently rejected by Principal Bench, New Delhi). It was the case of WHHPPL that NHAI failed to adhere to the terms of CA in fulfilling its obligation of handing over of land. The Arbitral Tribunal passed an Award in favor of WHHPPL inter alia agreeing with the contentions of WHHPPL and also held that NHAI was in breach of the CA. The Tribunal passed an award (including interest) of Rs.750 Crores in favor of WHHPPL .

With the
implementation of GST two years back, India has seen one of the biggest tax reforms
for the growth and revival of its economy. Post the journey of peaks &
troughs, the GST regime is finally settling in to the needs of business cycle.
The Government, with the theme of promoting ‚Äė Ease of Doing Business ‚Äô,
is trying hard to make this reform simpler, business friendly and transparent
in its functioning. Such measures can also be seen during this year‚Äôs budget
speech of our Hon‚Äôble Finance Minister, wherein announcements were made towards
the simplification of GST.

Mr Shardul Thacker heads the shipping, oil and gas and banking practice group at Mulla & Mulla & Craigie Blunt & Caroe. Lloyd‚Äôs List ranked him third in their top 10 lawyers stating: ‚ÄúHighly regarded for his work in the liquefied natural gas sector, particularly for interesting and highly geared finance deals in relation to infrastructure projects, energy, ports and ships.‚ÄĚ¬†india_-_gtdt_shipping_

India is a common-law jurisdiction. In general, Indian laws borrow heavily from, and are based on, English law. However, insurance law in India has certain unique features that deviate from English insurance law. The primary legislation of insurance law in India is the Insurance Act, 1938 (the ‚ÄúInsurance Act‚ÄĚ) and the Insurance Rules, 1939 (the ‚ÄúInsurance Rules‚ÄĚ).

The transportation industry ‚Äď aviation, shipping and rail ‚Äď has been predominantly owned by government entities since India‚Äôs independence in 1947. Air India and Indian Airlines, both government-owned, rules the skies; the Shipping Corporation of India (SCI), established in 1961 and owned by the government, owns and operates around one-third of the Indian tonnage. All railway property is government owned.

The Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (Act) provides the framework for arbitration and conciliation in India. Drafted on the basis of the UNCITRAL Model Law, it is divided into four parts. Each part governs a different aspect of the arbitration and conciliation process: a Part 1 governs commercial arbitration; b Part 2 governs the enforcement of certain foreign awards; c Part 3 governs conciliation; and d Part 4 contains supplementary provisions (regarding the power of the court to make rulings, etc.). The Act 2 was recently amended in 2016 with an aim to make it more robust by plugging the lacunae that existed in the original legislation.